Legendary’s Michael Mann Pic ‘Blackhat’: What The Hell Happened?

Last weekend saw shocking box office results for a film that paired an esteemed filmmaker with a fast-rising star, and fused them to a hot-button issue that couldn’t be more timely. No, I’m not talking about American Sniper, which posted a record $105.3M holiday weekend. I’m talking about the year’s first big flop, the $70 million Michael Mann-directed action drama Blackhat. The film that stars Chris Hemsworth in a strong lead performance, and deals with the global threat of cyber-hacking we saw play out with North Korea sabotaging Sony Pictures, and ISIS infiltrating Defense Department computers. Blackhat landed in 11th place with an anemic $4.4M opening weekend.

How could a film that on paper had so much going for it — and which, by the way, is a Michael Mann-quality crime thriller with several shocking plot twists — fail so badly? I asked that question of everybody involved, and they didn’t want to compound the loss with finger-pointing. But this was a bad one, maybe the most shocking flop of a star-driven film with a notable director and star since Transcendence, which last year ate up all those The Blind Side winnings for financier Alcon Entertainment. Blackhat goes in the loss column of Legendary Entertainment, which not long ago left a long and lucrative relationship with Warner Bros to come to Universal and tries again shortly with Seventh Son on February 6. When Universal and Legendary inked their deal in July 2013, Blackhat was already in production, having been set up during the financier’s tenure at Warner Bros. Part of the deal entailed Universal releasing the film.

Even though distributors and pundits try to boil box office performance down to a formula, the truth is that there is always room for surprises, and broken hearts. That was never more evident than last weekend’s big winner American Sniper; helped by a highly emotional marketing campaign and a smart platform rollout, that film did twice what Warner Bros expected.

Was Blackhat too complex to properly market in this ADD rapid-fire messaging that defines the challenge of hooking youthful moviegoers to turn up on Friday night? Did Universal and Legendary err, opening Blackhat in a crowded MLK weekend holiday that had action films Sniper and the returning Taken 3, as well as previously platformed Oscar nominees broadening and competing for the same adult audience dollar? Let’s put this one on the slab and perform the post-mortem.

On paper, Blackhat had much going for it. Hemsworth, the rising star of the Thor films; and Mann, who took his signature mastery of shooting architectural vistas and exploring of good and bad guy angst, and transported it to an international stage with venues that included China and Jakarta. The drama is a manhunt for a shadowy cyber-hacker who hobbles a Chinese power plant and manipulates trading on the livestock market and is headed for much worse. The good guys are U.S. government agents guided by an imprisoned master hacker (Hemsworth) and a Chinese soldier (rising Asian singer-actor Leehom Wang) who happens to have been the hacker’s M.I.T. roommate.

This would seem to lend itself to global playability, but the film is off to a rocky start abroad so far. It has so far made $2.2M from 810 playdates, playing below expectations in Denmark, Greece, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam. Sources tell us that there’s a chance the film could get into the China marketplace this March, which potentially could make up a lot of the box office shortfall. Legendary is backing the China-set epic The Great Wall and may hold some sway with the government gatekeepers.

After speaking with insiders and outsiders, here’s where the film may have gone wrong. Start with the marketing, a plan hatched and executed by Universal with input from Legendary and the hands-on Mann. A blur of gunfire, explosions, sex and action imagery that doesn’t reflect some of the film’s most appealing elements. That includes a subtle romance between Hemsworth’s burly hacker and his Chinese counterpart’s sister (played by Wei Teng, who starred with Wang in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution).

Despite its sinister connotations, hacking as a sales tool is nerdy and unappealing. Even though, in Mann’s hands, and with a script by Morgan Davis Foehl, you are made to understand it far more than you did time travel in Interstellar. No one I’ve talked to could figure out an innovative way to make that seem sexy, and to convey the high stakes and sophistication of the manhunt. Insiders pegged this as the major challenge they were unable to overcome and it’s backed up by what I’ve heard was a 61% awareness level of the film when Blackhat opened last Friday.

The film was applauded by tastemaker reviewers like Manohla Dargis, Peter Travers, Kenny Turan and others, and that should have favored a film that drew a mostly older (82% over 25) and 59% male. But it was not universally beloved: moviegoers gave Blackhat a C- CinemaScore.

One would have to lay that blame at the feet of Mann, a very hands-on filmmaker whose controls as producer and director go all the way down to influence on the marketing campaign, insiders said. There were rumors of turbulence behind the scenes as the director whipped the picture into shape, manifested by Blackhat composer Harry Gregson-Williams’ public exasperation of seeing his score get sliced and diced by Mann as scenes got tweaked. There is also sure to be a debate over whether Hemsworth can rise to the level where his presence in a movie puts butts in seats. He hasn’t shown it yet, outside of swinging a hammer in Thor and Avengers movies for Marvel. “His fans didn’t show up,” griped one person close to the film, “and he was in every single frame of the film and piece of the marketing.” Testing for the film was “so-so” per one source, with Mann tinkering with the film up until the end to get it right. Post work on the film was longer than average, not to mention — giving a title to the project. For months it remained on the release sked as “Untitled Michael Mann” until the fourth quarter when it was named Blackhat, a term used for evil hackers (versus Whitehat which refers to those who hack for the greater good).

But there’s blame to go around and let’s face it, the film wasn’t helped by a marketing campaign that failed to convey a sophisticated plot and a romance. Clint Eastwood’s spare style on American Sniper lent itself to spots that created an emotional connection between audience and the film’s characters. Blackhat instead chased a young audience with action footage that did not seem fresh.

“They might have tried a more sophisticated approach with adult themes, in the vein of a Bond or Bourne Identity film, infused with romance to get more women,” said one marketing consultant. Indications that the action-heavy marketing campaign wasn’t working became evident in the tracking. Blackhat hit the tracking charts four weeks ago, and its numbers didn’t improve greatly week-to-week, even though Legendary spent a lot of P&A money. Said one rival studio marketing strategist: “When you’re opening a movie, Friday night is all about the marketing, and Saturday and Sunday are more about a film’s word of mouth.” During the week of January 4, only 1%-2% said that Blackhat was their first choice for a film. On January 15, this grew to 3%-4%, whereas American Sniper was tracking in the 20% range for first choice. Total awareness for Blackhat was in the 40%-50% range on January 4 and grew to 50%-60% on January 15 (versus American Sniper‘s 80%-90%). Insiders feel that Blackhat needed that number to be in the 70&-80% Total Awareness range. The studio screened the movie to tech firms, trying to plug in that audience.

So this comes down to a number of variables in the all-or-nothing arena that weekend box office has become. It is something Johnny Depp will test this weekend as he tried to turn around his cold streak — Lone Ranger and Transcendence — with Mortdecai. No one, not even Warner Bros, expected American Sniper to suck all the oxygen out of MLK weekend, at the expense of Blackhat and even films like the MLK drama Selma. That unexpected juggernaut left Blackhat in need of a marketing campaign for the ages. It didn’t happen. Mann is a premier American storyteller with a finite number of movies left in him, so it is disappointing when a film such as this goes down in the loss column. Perhaps China can give a much needed second wind to a worthy film, and redefine how it goes down for Legendary.

226 Comments

Xenovius • on Jan 20, 2015 10:16 am

Legendary can’t tell stories that’s what happened. You’ll see it happen again on 7th son of 7th blah blah. Hopefully these and other upcoming flops will nail the coffin of the most conceited prod company in town

IronLung • on Jan 20, 2015 12:59 pm

Conceited or not, who needs another buyer to bite the dust?

karali1975 • on Jan 21, 2015 9:34 am

Way to wish harm on the entire industry! Bombs help no one. Successes do.

• on Jan 20, 2015 10:18 am

The movie was terrible and coul barely understand the asian actors when the triedto speak English. The ending was beyond anticlimactic. Manns worst film for sure.

Hello • on Jan 20, 2015 5:44 pm

LOL. The actress, Tang Wei, was indeed hard to understand, but if you’re saying you also had a hard time understanding the fluent English of the brother character or the Chinese cop who gets shot, I can only laugh.

Dano • on Jan 25, 2015 9:44 am

Keep laughing as he continues to be right. Enjoy.

• on Jan 20, 2015 10:19 am

This isn’t that complicated — the movie is terrible. Also, you can’t force movie star status onto people. Appearing in Marvel movies doesn’t make you a legit star. Nobody cared about this movie at all.

Mavis • on Jan 20, 2015 1:29 pm

Agreed. Trailer and concept felt like everything I can see on TV these days. Not going to the movies for something I can watch on CBS.

JB • on Jan 20, 2015 1:37 pm

Yep. Thor is the star there, not Hemsworth.

Flynn Albon • on Jan 20, 2015 6:51 pm

Then how does one become a movie star? By appearing in films and gaining steam. This puts zero coal into the furnace of the Chris Hemsworth train, but Heart o’ the Sea should be a “cuhumpback” for him.

Lucia • on Jan 21, 2015 8:50 am

I don’t think there are “movie stars” anymore in the sense that there are stars you will go to see in anything they do. Back in the golden days, you would go to see the next Clarke Gable movie or Marilyn Monroe movie, but today it is all about the story. Could Bradley Cooper sell The Words? Are Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz selling Big Eyes? Could Downey and Duvall sell The Judge?
You can’t become a movie star anymore, you can just keep working as an actor and maybe you will hook up with a project that grabs audiences.

kaimwright • on Jan 21, 2015 11:04 am

Perfectly stated, and so true!

Billy Ray • on Jan 22, 2015 1:58 am

+1

• on Jan 26, 2015 2:14 am

Jake Gyllenhaal in thrillers. Movie star. When Jske is in a thriller you know it will have something about it. Movie stars built in infantile comic book adaptions do not transfer because the star has not built a trusting audience.

Mike Spitzer • on Jan 29, 2015 1:26 pm

Excellent analysis — I have had this conversation many times — Stardom is not the same as it was years ago.
For example, look at Downey — I think he is a fine actor, but he was so lucky to get cast in IRON MAN.
For about 10 minutes of total screen time he gets paid $20 million dollars — the real star is the CGI workers who put the IRON MAN on the screen — seriously — almost any good handsome actor could have done this role

Burbank • on Jan 21, 2015 10:17 am

Yeah, next December.

Anonymous • on Jan 20, 2015 7:08 pm

Totally agree with this. Hardly any of these lucky franchise actors have been able to prove themselves. Time and time again, studios bet on the likes of Hemsworth, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. Even Daniel Radcliffe and Jennifer Lawrence (always has a strong opposite lead or ensemble cast) to some extent. Not saying that they are all bad actors, but you do not become a star simply because you appear in a popular brand. Those actors just end up becoming associated with a popular character and then at the end of their project, those fans abandon them completely.

Pedro • on Jan 21, 2015 8:56 am

Jennifer Lawrence carries the Hunger Games franchise. You can’t tell me Liam Hemsworth or Josh Hutchterson are the draw.

The last X-Men movie where she was front and center did pretty well too.

dorothyrothchild • on Jan 21, 2015 10:25 am

As someone who doesnt work in the industry and just happened to stumble upon this page, these comments are fascinating. This one especially seems spot on.

James A. Weaks • on Jan 21, 2015 9:29 am

“This isn’t that complicated — the movie is terrible.”

^^^Ding!

• on Jan 20, 2015 10:20 am

The biggest mistake, other than a weak script, was the obvious to everyone on the outside (mis)casting of Hemsworth.

deleted • on Jan 20, 2015 3:07 pm

Bryan Lourd just called Jack Whigham to say “he is your account now”. Jack Whigham just called jr. agent #23 at CAA and said “he is your account now’.

Deborah Dynasty • on Jan 20, 2015 8:06 pm

Drive-by comment shooting C.A.A.! Roll up your Rolls Royce windows before Bryan Lourd intonation as”deleted” takes hold as Hollywood consciousness. That’s the 1-2 punch here that was intended. And stay away from Meltdown Comics. You don’t want your real estate agent to be on the receiving end of a big bang theory about a Jewish/Israeli gangster bicycle hit!

• on Jan 21, 2015 11:53 am

..the hell did I just read?

GG • on Jan 21, 2015 2:54 pm

Took the words out of my mouth.

• on Jan 21, 2015 4:17 pm

Lol

• on Jan 22, 2015 6:45 am

This. I watched the preview and when they said Hemsworth was the elite hacker I laughed. Horrible casting is what killed this picture. Hemsworth can be the FBI guy sent to guard the hacker or the Hacker’s personal trainer. Or the Hacker’s God Thor. Anybody but the hacker. Same thing when they tried to make Hugh Jackman a hacker in SwordFish. Hollywood producers and casting directors should go see the actual Hackers at a conference or something and learn to cast!

Liz Cordwell • on Feb 9, 2015 11:54 pm

Couldn’t agree more that Hemsworth is miscast as the hacker. I laughed at the preview – “only one man in the world can stop this threat…” Really, I bet there are zillions of hackers on earth that could do the job, not just one himbo-esque white guy.

GrumpyFan • on Jan 22, 2015 7:29 am

Completely agree! I like Chris Hemsworth, but I don’t think he’s believable playing the role of a master hacker. His brother, Liam, might have been a better (more believable) choice, but Chris is just too “Thor-like” or brawny to be seriously considered in this role.

... • on Jan 20, 2015 10:22 am

its pretty simple. tull and legendary are financiers. without WB giving them “go” films they can then “produce” — there is no way these guys can sustain not only their burn rate, but their output deals as they are trying to duplicate success that only comes with a studio machine pushing forward branded IP and packaged projects. this is the first of many flops.

No One of Consequence • on Jan 20, 2015 10:22 am

Marketing was pretty awful on this. A single one sheet that looked like something from the late 90’s (big head over an ambiguous semi-action shot) and the trailer did nothing to grab you. Opening in the wake of what will likely be the biggest adult focused film of the year didn’t help much, either, but I am a big Michall Mann fan (Heat is one of my all time favorite movies) and there was nothing in the advertising that made me feel like this was THE new crime drama to see.

Lucia • on Jan 20, 2015 1:34 pm

I agree with you that the marketing was awful. I saw three trailers before I had any idea what this was about, and did not know until someone told me that it was a Michael Mann film. After the Sony stuff broke, the time was ripe for a totally redesigned trailer that leaned on the high stakes hacking angle. Better still, this was not a movie to dump in January, it should have opened during Christmas school break when the audience was available.
I’m also a big Mann fan – Manhunter, Heat, Last of the Mohicans – great films. But he got buried in the marketing.

Jason • on Jan 20, 2015 6:18 pm

Mann had total control of the marketing. So don’t blame anyone else.

No One of Consequence • on Jan 21, 2015 7:39 am

He wouldn’t be the first filmmaker to torpedo his own film by micromanaging the marketing campaign.

Smedley D. Butler • on Jan 20, 2015 7:40 pm

THIEF

Martin • on Jan 21, 2015 6:52 am

Can you elaborate? THIEF?

Many friends of mine suggest it’s Karma for stealing a title from a smaller indie with similar subject matter after seeing their trailer last year.

I can’t say for sure, but it certainly was disappointing to have them change their title to a version of our title mid-year in 2014. It’s an obvious title but one they didn’t have until much later in the game after we’d already established a beachhead for cyber-thriller on iTunes trailers.

I was hoping it would do well to pave a path for our smaller title to follow-up fairly soon here.

I will see it as I am a Mann fan but this was a bad weekend to try and compete.

-Martin Kelley
Producer, “blackhats”

• on Jan 21, 2015 5:02 pm

I think he was referring the Michael Mann movie, “THIEF.”

ShannonB • on Jan 21, 2015 2:09 am

Yup, no one I had talked to had even heard of
this film. Chalk it up to perhaps the worst
marketing for a subject matter that had a pulse. Nothing from the poster or trailers
would even make me want to rent this through
redbox. Yawn

william • on Jan 20, 2015 10:25 am

Maybe the “Thor” guy is not too believable as a hacker is what was wrong with the movie??

1now • on Jan 20, 2015 9:32 pm

That is exactly the problem.

I am a techie at heart, and the previews turned me off immediately with Chris Hemsworth.

SheLovesMedia • on Jan 20, 2015 10:25 am

Technology-related subjects are best fodder for TV–feature film isn’t timely enough…by the time it’s released, the subject feels dated to the demo (young men). And for this film to work, an underdog/geek should’ve been cast in the lead, not one of the brawniest, best looking men on the planet.

Steve • on Jan 20, 2015 11:08 am

Yeah. Hacking and cyberterrorism is so five years ago. There haven’t been any hacking stories in the news since “The Net” came out in the 90s. That’s totally the reason this tanked.

SheLovesMedia • on Jan 20, 2015 11:45 am

I’m talking about the technology itself…the visuals weren’t close to being convincing that the story was about leading-edge use of bits and bytes. It felt very dated and decidedly un-edgy.

Todd • on Jan 20, 2015 11:14 am

The TV series “Person of Interest” is a great example. It has a great balance of action, technology and character. The previews I saw for “Blackhat” did not make me want to see it.

tostonesfix • on Jan 20, 2015 10:26 am

They clearly overestimated the appeal of Chris Hemsworth. In addition the title. Not many people are familiar with the term “Blackhat” I just couldn’t get the word “Asshat” out of my mind.

Beth • on Jan 20, 2015 10:26 am

I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘Blackhat.’ It was among the top movies on my list to see this weekend, but I’m way behind playing catch up with all the films that opened in late December just in time for awards season, and I just didn’t get around to it. Am trying to see other nominated films before the Academy Awards airs. January is not a great time to open for normal moviegoers because of all the awards competition. Are you really writing it off? Hard to believe.

LeeSP • on Jan 20, 2015 10:26 am

It is not complicated. The movie was quite simply BAD. Some of the reviews were hilarious.

MiamiMan • on Jan 20, 2015 10:26 am

I think you nailed it right here: “Blackhat instead chased a young audience with action footage that did not seem fresh.”

Eric Ingram • on Jan 20, 2015 10:28 am

Maybe he should have had a cape and hammer… Star is a strong word.

The Viewing Public • on Jan 20, 2015 10:28 am

Unfortunately Chris Hemsworth is as charismatic as a cigar store Indian. He may be a nice guy, but box office darling he is not. Channing Tatum is not what one would say is a good actor, but he’s charismatic and likable, Hemworth brother are NOT. Plus he was completely miscast. Stop wasting your money on the uncharismatic meat pockets Hollywood.

• on Jan 20, 2015 5:54 pm

When Jupiter opens soft, what will be your explanation?

Sigh • on Jan 21, 2015 9:00 pm

Channing Tatum…ugh. To think of him playing Gambit too…

mjones90 • on Jan 20, 2015 10:30 am

Hemsworth was thoroughly mediocre in this. He really hasn’t delivered in anything outside of Thor and Rush.

deleted • on Jan 20, 2015 3:01 pm

Those are the only two movies he has been the lead in….

jrjjrh • on Jan 20, 2015 3:48 pm

High hopes for Heart of the Sea though.

Will • on Jan 20, 2015 10:34 am

Reminds me of Vin Diesel’s “A Man Apart” which was supposed to be a huge success and catapult him to super stardom.

bill • on Jan 20, 2015 10:36 am

The problem is that this film should have come out in 1997 as a sequel to The Net or something.

Sally McLinn • on Jan 20, 2015 10:36 am

I think the Helmsworth brothers are OK actors. Whenever Chris talks, I can’t understand him, but that’s because his AU accent is so heavy. He’s a dreamboat, but that’s about all he’s going for him; so far.

Jinjeon • on Jan 20, 2015 10:41 am

Hemsworth just isn’t worthy of those $10 milllion paychecks yet )I hope to god he wasn’t paid more, that would be ‘ouch!’). I don’t think he’ll ever be worthy of them. Anyone can star in franchise and the movie will make money. Especially the Marvel ones. “Red Dawn” flopped, “Rush” flopped and now “Blackhat” flopped really hard. He’s just not a box-office draw. Stop shoving him down our throats! Even at its worse a box-office draw can open a movie to $10 million, not $3 fucking million on $70 million budget!

Clark Griswold • on Jan 20, 2015 5:24 pm

Would anyone even notice if they replaced him with, say, Charlie Hunnam in Thor 3? The funniest part is everyone only goes on about Loki from those movies. He isn’t even the ‘star’ of his own franchise!

Paul928 • on Jan 21, 2015 6:44 am

THAT is the best comment on this board. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is the one that receives all of the (deserved) accolades for his Marvel appearances. Hemsworth does not. Hemsworth is “fine” as Thor, but he doesn’t light up the screen, and he certainly isn’t a great actor.
Selling Hemsworth while he’s hot, makes sense. But he hasn’t impressed me in anything, yet. Stay with Marvel Mr. Hemsworth…ride it out until they have to go with a younger actor. You’re not Downey Jr., Ruffalo, or Renner…and I have my doubts you ever will be.

Jenny • on Jan 22, 2015 2:40 am

RDJ, Ruffalo and Renner will be cropping up in films for the next 20 years or more. Two oscar nominations each, with more to come I have no doubt. None of them rely on their looks or athleticism, although they have that to varying degrees, so growing older is not a problem. I don’t see Chris Hemsworth’s career outliving his youthful charms.

bettheduck • on Jan 20, 2015 10:45 am

I looked forward to this film. Mann has been a favorite director of mine. His “Insider” is a great film, but overlooked and the box office shows it. However, Blackhat was just a poorly constructed story and lost its footing in the script. Making it impossible to ever make it good once production started. Making a film about cyber security when the only thing shown are visual effects of internet connections and blips of green screens is marked for failure. The trailer never gave it a chance. The chaotic camera work of the running, jumping, leaping of its two main characters left you in the state of “so what.” The enemy looking like a bearded Allan Carr was terrible. What was he? The Asian female lead was a joke.She should be explaining, what is cyber security helping the audience undertand the movie She is spooning with Hemsworth faster then an email arrives after being sent.
Sorry but this movie did not fail by a release date, marketing, or trailers. It failed when Michael Mann finished the script and someone at Legendary said “Yes Let’s do it.”

Michael • on Jan 20, 2015 10:48 am

The awful digital cinematograpy certainly didn’t help.

Robert • on Jan 20, 2015 10:48 am

just go work for Mann, you’ll quickly find out why his recent endeavors have been failures…cuckoo!!

cannonball • on Jan 20, 2015 12:43 pm

Yeah, how much of this movie’s failure is simple karma?

Jay • on Jan 20, 2015 10:49 am

Pretty simple explanation, American Sniper simply blew it out of the water. Anybody intending to see Blackhat last weekend heard all the excitement for Sniper and chose to see that instead.

joe • on Jan 20, 2015 10:49 am

No one goes to the movies to see Chris Hemsworth. They go to the movie that he is in. Thor and Avengers. He is not a movie star no matter what they pay him to be.

Clark Griswold • on Jan 20, 2015 5:23 pm

I agree. None of these superhero actors are draws when they take the tights off. Even alleged superstar Downey couldn’t get The Judge higher than 5th place on its opening weekend. Jeremy Renner in Kill the Messenger, vanished. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy both had flops as leads post X-Men. Only ScarJo has gotten a real boost from being associated with this stuff. So gather up that superhero money while you can, cuz there are plenty more bland Aussies arriving at LAX waiting to play Spongeman or Thoopwig or whichever one is next.

Jenny • on Jan 22, 2015 2:49 am

I must admit I was surprised by the box office for The Judge. RDJ has a huge profile and they spent a lot of money on marketing. Kill the Messenger didn’t have a chance, it was a political hot potato and Focus didn’t even try to sell it. Fortunately it was pretty low budget as were the Fassbender and McAvoy projects. I enjoyed seeing them all and if that means they have to do the superhero stuff to get these movies made then fine.

Lenny • on Jan 20, 2015 10:50 am

My reasons for not caring:
1. Boring trailers
2. Chris Hemsworth as a hacker…as believable as Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist. Or Jennifer Lopez as a psychotherapist.
3. Michael Mann hasn’t made a good movie since Collateral.

I like Hemsworth, he was good in Rush (payed for it in theatres) but he looks exactly the opposite of a hacker.
I like Mann but I’m just not interested in another visually slick movie with 1-2 nicely filmed shoout-outs in an otherwise boring, bland and unappealing story.

Also, after all the political troubles with Chinese Hackers against American interests seeing them as the good guys in this particular storyline is a huge stretch right now…